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Third ‘Marlboro Man’ actor dies of respiratory failure

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By John Glenday, Reporter

January 28, 2014 | 1 min read

A third actor to have portrayed the role of the iconic ‘Marlboro Man’ has died from a smoking related illness it has emerged, in a bitter final twist for the famous advertising campaign.

Eric Lawson passed away from respiratory failure after battling lung disease at his home in California, he was 72 and had been a smoker since the age of 14.

A well-known-actor he had roles on Charlie's Angels, Dynasty and Baywatch and became an anti-smoking campaigner in later life.

The Marlboro Man campaign ran for four decades in total, successfully promoting the drug to young men as a masculine habit.

Other actors to have played the role who have suffered the same fate include David Millar, who succumbed to emphysema in 1987 and David McLean, who died of lung cancer in 1995.

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